CRISTIANO RONALDO will undergo arguably the most gruelling examination of his career in Manchester this week. While Manchester United's medical team assess the state of the Portugal international's right ankle, Alex Ferguson will look him in the eye and test his resolve, attitude and motivation.
The answers may determine whether it is the beginning of the end of the tortuous Real Madrid transfer saga or of Ronaldo's time at Old Trafford.
One of the most coveted players in the world is due to visit his employers one month on from ankle surgery in Amsterdam as United, with whom Ronaldo signed a five-year contract worth €39 million in April, inspect his recovery and clarify a timeframe for his return to their defence of the Premier League title.
That he will be involved in United's pursuit of a hat-trick of league championships is, according to Ferguson and the club's chief executive, David Gill, beyond doubt, and they can certainly lay claim to being the only party with a consistent line throughout a transfer tale now in its fourth month.
But until Ronaldo comes out and confirms he will be staying at an Old Trafford without Carlos Queiroz and that the "dream" of Real Madrid has died for another season, the doubt lingers.
Ronaldo's meeting with his manager may take place today, the second time they have come face-to-face this summer, and it will take an intransigent performance from the 23-year-old, a show that convinces Ferguson he has lost the player's heart and mind to the Bernabeu, possibly even a transfer request, for the winger to have any hope of winning the argument.
As Ruud van Nistelrooy, himself a prolific goalscorer for United and allowed to join Real Madrid only at Ferguson's behest, has said: "The meetings can be a bit lively but overall what he (Ferguson) is doing is in the interests of Manchester United and that's what he always thinks of. In those meetings, if he wants to keep the player, he'll do everything he can to do so, and he'll probably succeed as well."
Few players have left Old Trafford against the Glaswegian's wishes, and it has aided United's stance, and caused disquiet in Madrid, that Ronaldo has not thrown any tantrums to leave in public. He may have rekindled Ferguson's distaste for the cult of celebrity that surrounded David Beckham by partying in his plaster cast in Los Angeles, and retained the unwavering devotion only of those supporters who have not reached puberty by keeping Real's interest alive, but he is not entirely lost to the Old Trafford cause.
The player has kept his counsel since his last private encounter with Ferguson - a wise move, since the odds against his departure lengthen every day the transfer deadline draws nearer and United's determination to keep him, from the Glazers down, holds firm.
In contrast to United's consistent stance, Real's tactics have changed with the prevailing wind. Ramon Calderon, the Madrid president, yesterday undermined his argument that Ronaldo represented all-or-nothing for his club in the market this summer when they sealed a €13 million deal for Rafael van der Vaart. The Dutch midfielder has harboured an ambition to appear in La Liga on account of his Spanish mother and will be unveiled today, having agreed a five-year contract.
His arrival from Hamburg provides Real with a quick remedy to the loss of Wesley Sneijder, another creative Dutchman, who could be out for three months after damaging knee ligaments in the Emirates Cup defeat by Arsenal. A renewed effort from Real to sign Ronaldo for a world-record transfer seemed inevitable the moment Sneijder was carried off. Van der Vaart's arrival suggests not, and that even Calderon has lost confidence in his pursuit of United's man.
Guardian Service
